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This was home to her, there was no other place she wanted to be. This ugly piece of land was the only place that would welcome her with open arms. After all, wasn’t this place a lot like her? Claire had become the village outcast by her family and village all because of the large gash shaped birthmark that took up over three fourths of her back.

“You wouldn’t turn me away, would you?”

It was crazy that she was talking to seemingly no one, it wasn’t like the statue or the fog could actually answer her. Walking forward towards the clouded water, Claire took in what she had always known to be her. Waist long carrot orange hair that was in a braid over her shoulder, wide emerald eyes that searched themselves for a reason as to why she had been born this way, and skin that was a pale as snow with freckles dusting her face and shoulders heavily. To be honest, her entire body had been covered in freckles, it was one of the few feature’s she liked about herself.

With a tiny sigh she took her dress off, hating the feel of it. Her family wasn’t the best, and most her clothing were uncomfortable but she knew that she couldn’t take it off. The water wouldn’t make her put on such horrid, itchy, and ugly clothing. It didn’t mind that she was naked, it didn’t mind that she showed herself or her scar to it.

“A little deer so far from home, so it seems.”

Emerald eyes snapped up from the water to look around for the voice, turning around to have them land on a tall gentleman who stood calmly behind her. She quickly covered herself with her hands, her emerald eyes hardened but all he did was give a tiny smirk.

Just how long had he been there?

How hadn’t she heard him approach her?

“Do not be frightened, I bring you no harm…”

He looked very strange to her, his clothing was of that she had never seen before, but his looks are what interested her the most. His skin was as pale as hers, if not whiter, his slanted eyes were honey browned, and he had long coal black hair that was in a high pony tail. He offered a cocky smirk, exposing two very sharp fangs.

“Who are you and what do you want?”

Claire didn’t feel threatened by him, but more so comforted by him but that didn’t mean that she wasn’t embarrassed that he caught her stripping.

“I ponder the same since this is my land, but I shall tickle your interest as an apology gift. I am Heisuke. You must be Claire, the unfortunate young woman who must bare such a heavy curse…”

It shocked her that he knew her name, even if it was known as the named of the cursed. He saw the ugly marking on her back, but he didn’t look like he was from around where she lived, so how could he know about it?

“How do you know my name?”

“I know many things. Traveling and being alive since the Edo period have done their works, as well as taken their toll.”

The crunch of the dead leaves that surrounded them was enough to drive Claire insane, she hated the sound of it now that it was being done by a stranger. A weird stranger, no less. All she could wonder is how she hadn’t heard the leaves before.

“Your marking has been passed around for generations, giving ruin to all those who bare it. No one knows where that silly superstition began, at least not anyone still alive.”

“You speak as if I’m too young to understand.”

“No, no, I don’t mean that. You look to be a ripened young woman.”

“I am only of age sixteen, I am not ripened just yet.”

“Ah, but you are still beautiful, little deer.”

Claire frowned, she did not take kindly to his treatment. Though she was no adult, that hadn’t meant that she should be treated as a child. Being told she was a curse by those whom she loved was one thing, but to be treated like a child by a stranger was another.

“You’ve made it clear that this is your land. I take my leave.”

Claire sent him a cold look like she did to the villagers, and began to pick her clothing back up, willing to get dressed in the forest. With her head held high she began to walk away from him . His eyes seemed to burn holes in her back, but she tried to keep walking.

“Do you not remember me, Claire?”

That alone was enough to stop the redhead in her tracks. What did he mean remember him? She had only just met him! Turning back to him, to upset to be ashamed of her current state, she became bold.

“You must have me confused with another person, Mr. Heisuke.”

There had only been one Claire in the village but that had been her, but perhaps she looked like someone he knew. It was silly to try to make up an excuse for it, especially one that made no sense, but what else could she do? She didn’t know this man, she had never seen this man, so how could he ever know her?

He frowned and came closer to her, but in an inhuman manner. He had been a good distance away from her, yet in the blink of an eye he was mere inches from her. Now they were face to face, eye to eye, and it made Claire realize just how tall this fellow was.

“We met when I visited your home in Jamestown, you were the only one who would come play with me. I was the little Japanese boy your mother would tell you to stay away from. You’d stay… You’d stay with me… Don’t you remember? You remembered last time…”

Claire didn’t understand how the hurt look in his eyes had hurt her so, but had she been a child then like he had, why were they here in present time? What did he even mean by last time? She felt angry at him, this must be a lie! There was no other way for it to make sense!

“You have the-”

“I was the one who put that marking on your back…. I… I was the one who put that gash on your back so that I could find you again…”

She took a step back from him, frightened.

“I gave it to you when I was fifteen and you were twelve. I was beginning my work with the Shinsengumi and you were a tiny Geisha girl. You had died in Jamestown of a bad flu. I knew that I wouldn’t be so lucky like I had been that time, you wouldn’t have remembered me every time you came back, so I made that mark on your back…”

“You’re insane!”

Claire wouldn’t lie and say that she hadn’t meant to shout, but she didn’t want to hear this! She didn’t want to think about it! She knew that what he was saying had to be the truth, because as a little girl she had been very sickly and had almost died of a very bad flu. She’d have strange dreams that she couldn’t understand of herself in different places that she had never known or saw before, but this was just too much for her.

“I may be a little crazy, but I’m not crazy enough to let you go, Claire.”

The green eyed girl couldn’t have noticed over the sound of her beating heart that he had pushed her into a spot where she couldn’t escape. He had made her walk towards the water, away from the forest, without her noticing. She was at the edge, another step and she would be soaked.

“I’ll never, EVER, let you go.”

With one blink of her wide deer like eyes, he was gone, or so she thought. Hands quickly covered her eyes and she quickly went to claw them away.

“I adore you, Claire… We’ll be together just like when we were children… This time we won’t have to play pretend, I can be your husband now…”

She let out a horrid scream as he dug his fangs into her skin, drinking as much as he could as he leaned back and pulled her into the water with him. Nothing could have saved her from him as they were slowly engulfed by the water. It was almost as if they had fallen into putty or tar, it gargled and bubbled as it swallowed them whole. Where they once been had been clouded with fog, hiding them away from the world forever. A tiny bubble reached the surface, holding inside of it a tiny sound.

They love me, that I know to be true
It just hurts to know that I love them too
It’s not the fact that I love them that hurts me
But more of the tragedies that have befallen me

I have been hurt, betrayed, and stabbed
By those who told me they’d never go bad
They promised me that they would stay
That no matter what, they’d do me no pain

I shut myself away from the world of love
No longer wanting to feel stung
They came along, looking over my walls
Seeing not the monster I had become

They talked with me, offering me smiles
It was almost as if they hadn’t noticed I was defiled
With their hands that I noticed had been covered with blood
They removed the tears that flowed like the Nile

The first one had been a doctor
A medical history that was uncommon
His eyes were cold yet warmed my soul
I would never deny how I loved his smile

The second was a killer
Bloodshed being all that he knew
His rough hands holding mine in a soft cocoon
Like he was to me, I was something new

They both came to me with soft intention
They did not wish to add to my affliction
Though unsure, I gave them a chance
I would gladly do it again

My garden, for them, was a place of salvation
I opened my arms to give them rest
The world on the outside of my walls
They deemed it only as a mess

We walked and talked and chortled and sung
For once in my life, nothing was going wrong

With her hands in her pockets she sighed. How many years had it been since she had been on her own? She had lost track of time just as she had for everything else. She was as hot headed as her fiery red hair, she was as adventurous as her emerald green eyes, and she was as all over the place just as her freckles were over her body and face. She was the fire that could either help or burn those around her.

While she hadn’t been dancing, she had attracted the attention of the people around her. She could care less about what they thought of her not dancing, but there was no one interesting enough to dance with or for. Didn’t help that all her friends had already left the party with their date for the night. Walking to the bathroom, she stopped in front of a large mirror, surprised to see something other than her reflection. There was someone else on the other side of it.

He kept his hands behind his back, a sigh empting his parted lips. He knew exactly how long he had been on his own; a total of four years and two months. Nothing was out of place nor forgotten, he needed to remember it all to keep sane. He was level headed as his dark brown hair that had been cut just above his eyebrows but was curly, as simple as his slanted brown eyes, and as empty as his blemish free face. He was the very ice that froze the people around him.

This party had been thrown by him to welcome his business partners to his country Korea. It wasn’t something that he wanted to do per say, but it was what his mother had wanted for him. He was just following in his now dead father’s footsteps, taking over the family business just as he would have wanted for his son. His son, however, had a different passion but would never rebel against his family unless necessary. Walking out of the room he made his way to his office, pretending that he was going to get something out of there.

In all honesty he wanted to get out of there and into a space where he hadn’t had to be so uptight. Walking into the office further he looked into the mirror, expecting to see himself but only to see the red haired girl staring right back at him.

The two watched each other from the their sides of the mirror, each with a different scenery behind them. Behind the woman was an empty bathroom wall. Behind the man lay a large, yet almost empty, business office. They looked at each other before looking behind them, observing the differences between the two before turning to one another again.

“안녕하세요”

It was strange, despite not knowing Korean, she understood him.

“Haigh”

When she answered him back in Scottish Gaelic, she could see the same surprise that she had before paint his features. The curiousness that glossed over both of their eyes as the reached up to touch the mirror, causing tiny ripples to run through it, almost as if were made of water. This didn’t stop them. He felt the need to move back, and once he had she had pushed forward and into his side of the mirror. She felt frozen, the room was much colder than it had been at her own party.

Looking back into the mirror, she found that she was no longer in her party clothing, but a formal gown that she knew she wasn’t rich enough to afford on her own. He tapped her shoulder and offered her a smile, his dimples showing through. Looking down she realized that he had his arm out for her to take, and being unsure of what else to do she took it.

“긴장. 다 괜찮을 것입니다.”

Relax. Everything’s okay.

How could she relax in such a setting? She felt like an outsider, yet he treated her as if she belonged there most of all. She followed his lead, daring not to step out of line. Everything was still freezing cold, she missed the warmth of her party. He led her back to the party and danced slowly with her to the soft sounds of the music.

It felt like there was no one other than them in the room, until other people came up to investigate the new person whom they had never seen before. After greeting a few people she lead him back to the mirror, wanting to show him her own lifestyle.

“Mo Cuir a-nis!”

My turn now!

He blinked, but once more a small smile had painted his face. He was willing to give her world a try like she had done his. The wide smile on her face made him want to follow her to the ends of the Earth. She walked through the glass with ease, the ripples surrounding her as she did so. Feeling panicked, he quickly followed after her, diving deep into the world that was hers.

The loud music that he couldn’t hear through the glass hit him full force, the vibrations of the bass thundering through his chest. Having the need to see if he changed too, he turned to look at himself. His suit disappeared only to be replaced in slightly tattered clothing that hugged him loosely. He wasn’t sure how he had gotten these kinds of clothing, his mother would never allow him to wear such a thing, but he was in awe of it all.

“이것은 당신이 어떻게 느 꼈는 지?”

Is this how you felt?

“Tha.”

Yes.

It was odd to be in a place that he had never known before, he wasn’t even sure if he was still in Korea. When she grabbed his hand to lead him out of the bathroom to the dance floor, he felt the heat of the room. It hadn’t even been a second before he started to sweat a little, but as she started dancing he couldn’t stop his body from joining her. He had not the slightest idea of what he was doing, not like she did, but that didn’t stop him from keeping up with her. Moments passed before he was burning, but she seemed perfectly fine.

It was hard to breath in the heat, and the smell of the people around him was nauseating. Gently, he took her hand and lead her back to the mirror where he stepped back into his office, placing his hands against the mirror where she could put hers. She did, only then did she feel the heat of herself while he felt his coldness.

“Tha mi ag iarraidh a bhith air a losgadh le thu…”

I want to be burning with you…

“당신과 함께 고정 하 고 싶어요…”

I want to be frozen with you…

It was then that they both realized that they had to make compromise in order for the two of them to learn to handle the temperature of the other.

“나와 함께 미지근한 수…”

“Be bhlàth còmhla rium….”

Be lukewarm with me…

When they both spoke the mirror began to ripple again, but this time it was more violent. The two teenagers didn’t feel threatened, instead, they kept their eyes on the other with smiles painting their features. The worlds behind them began to glow a blinding white, the people in the other rooms were seemingly clueless to the things happening in the other rooms. No screams or shouts of panic at the sudden light, they all just simply faded away, or was it the two who faded away? The glass shattered as the world around them began to shift and turn.

Still, they did not panic, instead they entangled their fingers and closed their eyes as they placed their foreheads together. Wind whisked around them, the smell of Earth and lush plant life brushed against their nose. The sound of birds and waterfalls caressed their ears, and the feeling of release wrapped around them like a blanket. Finally opening their eyes, they looked amongst themselves to find themselves in the mountains. Looking back at each other they no longer felt the surprise of seeing them dressed differently.

They dressed in all white clothing that was neither fit for a formal party, nor a wild party.

“My name is Iona.”

For some reason, here they spoke English, but all in all, they didn’t mind. The could speak a similar language now.

“Oh Hyeon Hwa”

They smiled at each other once again and she took his hand in hers.

“We’re no longer fire and ice, huh?”

“No, I suppose not. I believe we’re lukewarm now.”

Gently cupping her face with his free hand he pulled her towards him, giving her a soft kiss to which she happily kissed back. Wrapping her arms around his neck, he gently held her waist. Once they pulled away for air, Iona gave him a grin.

He wasn’t all that sure, all that he could remember was in splotches. One thing, however was certain: that there had been fire, lots of it. His name was August, August Abbott, he was a strapping young gentleman who was only of age eighteen. He had been born with summer golden blonde hair that his mother made sure he kept combed back, pale skin as smooth as water, and eyes as green as the fresh green grass he would always seen downtown near the meadows and farmlands near the farmhouse that he would always visit. He remember those things, but who his mother was, if he had a father, or perhaps a little sibling, he could never quite remember.

It wasn’t as if the young man had been conversing and being jovial with others to forget said things, because that wasn’t quite the case, far from it actually.

August was lonely.

Very lonely.

No one seemed to be able to see the boy even if he were to greet them and bid them good day. “Ah, m’lady! Good day!” or “Greetings, my good sir!” went unanswered and ignored. It had taken him a few centuries to realize that they weren’t ignoring him but more so the fact that they couldn’t see him or hear him. Else they were good at pretending he wasn’t there, he supposed. It was impossible for him to even enjoy the sites of the world changing, as there was no one to enjoy it with.

It made his heart sink, if he still had one. Being a ghost made it all the more confusing. He found himself sitting on a cobblestone wall as he watched the sun begin to set, this was going to be his new home. It was all the things that he could remember. Lush green grass with farm animals and flowers aplenty!

Although he couldn’t remember why he had started coming to the landscape, but the faint voice of mirthful laughter brushed upon his memory. The voice as sweet as marigolds and daisies, it tickled his heart and cause his green eyes to shimmer with an emotion that he couldn’t place. His chest swelled at the thought of such a thing, but he still could not place the sound, it angered him.

“If I still had a heart, no doubt would it be shattered.”, he mused angrily as he let out a tired sigh.

The disadvantage of being dead not only was that his loneliness was beyond compare, but that sleep would do him no good. He was dead, he had no use for sleep, therefore, he didn’t. As night time came around he looked around him. The long dirt roads, fences used to hold in the cattle and the horses, the tall trees that blossomed with a bounty of fruit that would be ready to pick any day now, and the happy houses that families were now currently inside as they ate and got ready for bed, it all hurt him. It was always the happy emotions that he struggled with, the sad ones he recognized without so much as a bat of an eye.

It all made him furious!

Why is it that he could only remember so little?

Why was it that he was forced to be alone without anyone to suffer like him?

Why was it that he had to suffer alone while watching the people around him grow and enjoy life, laughing and making new memories that they would be able to look back on for years to come?

What had he done wrong?

He had made his mistakes, but was this really his punishment?
Heaving a sigh he placed his trembling red face in his hands and let out a choked sob. As always, there was no one to comfort this lonely ghost. The ghost that no one could see, the ghost that no one could hear, and the ghost that no one cared enough to seek out. The only thing that was able to lift his head was the sudden solid hand on his shoulder.